Saturday, September 17, 2016

High Ranking Retired Chicago Officer Benefits from Carry Reform

A retired Deputy Police Chief of Detectives in Chicago should be glad that gun carry law reform has been passed. He was shot and had to return fire. He wounded his 21-year-old assailant, who was later arrested. From the chicagotribune.com:

Officers walked in and out of the park's stadium south of 82nd, where a retired deputy police chief had exchanged gunfire with a robber during an exercise session for senior citizens about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The retired officer, Fred Coffey, 72, was hit in the arm. The robber, 21, suffered a more serious wound in the lower body, according to police. Both were stabilized at hospitals, but police were releasing few other details.

McCarty said a person who appeared shot hobbled out to a waiting car and jumped in. He was later arrested and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The retired officer went to the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Before the national Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act (LEOSA) was passed, retired officers in Chicago did not have an option to legally carry, as there were no carry permits issued in Illinois. In Chicago, you could not obtain a permit to own a handgun. LEOSA restores carry rights to retired officers across the United States and its possessions.

It may be that a retired officer in Chicago would never be arrested for carrying a concealed weapon in Chicago... but that does not appear to be codified in law.

Now that carry reform has passed, a retired Chicago officer has the option of obtaining an Illinois shall issue concealed carry permit. They also have the option of obtaining a permit to carry under LEOSA.

The Associated Press attempted to turn the shooting into an argument for more infringements on the Second Amendment:

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in a statement that gun offenders "do not discriminate." He added gun offenders' reckless conduct and lack of respect puts families, public servants and anything that stands in their way at risk.

The retired Deputy Chief of Detectives was shot in the shoulder, took cover behind a pillar, and returned fire, hitting his assailant in the inner thigh. He had never been shot or shot anyone while on the force. From fox32chicago.com:

Former Deputy Chief Coffey, who served 40 years on the force, has never had to shoot anyone and was never shot himself, according to his son.

Second City Cop, an interesting source for gossip about what is going on in the Chicago PD, had this bit:

Superintendent "Special Ed" Johnson announced that he has stripped former Deputy Chief Fred Coffey of his star and retirement powers pending the outcome of an investigation into yesterday's shooting.

This could be satire, comparing what happens to a retired Deputy Chief of Detectives, vs an ordinary officer. But with Second City Cop, you cannot be sure. The site has marvelous insights into the Chicago PD.

The poster at Second City Cop refers to "retirement powers". Is that something like "spider powers" for Spider Man? Maybe they are considering LEOSA? This is the Chicago PD. Meanings in Chicago might be different than in other places.

A retired police officer is a citizen, just as any other citizen. There was a Ninth Circuit decision to that effect. Here is the provision of the Silveira v. Lockyer case. From the decision SILVEIRA v. LOCKYER(pdf):

C. The AWCA’s Provisions Regarding Off-Duty Police
Officers Do Not Offend The Fourteenth Amendment;
However, There Is No Rational Basis For the Retired
Officer Exemption.
Plaintiffs contend that the privileges that are afforded to
off-duty and retired peace officers under the AWCA violate
the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to
the Constitution. Specifically, they contend that the pertinent
provisions afford benefits to off-duty and retired officers that
are unavailable to the plaintiffs, and that there is no rational
reason that they and other law-abiding citizens should be
treated differently than off-duty and retired peace officers.53

Silveira v. Lockyer has not been used to prevent police officers from having special privileges. The Ninth Circuit decision does not apply in Chicago.

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Background

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” -- Thomas Jefferson

Syndicated columnist Charley Reese (1937-2013): "Gun control by definition affects only honest people. When a politician tells you he wants to forbid you from owning a firearm or force you to get a license, he is telling you he doesn’t trust you. That’s an insult. ... Gun control is not about guns or crime. It is about an elite that fears and despises the common people."

The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles -- Jeff Cooper (1920-2006)

Note for non-American readers: Crime reports from America which describe an offender just as a "teen" or "teenager" almost invariably mean a BLACK teenager.

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics.

Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)

First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean

It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.

The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

How much do you know about Trayvon Martin? Did you recognize him in the picture above? If not you may need to know more about him. It's all here (Backups here and here)

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” -- Robert A. Heinlein

After all the serious stuff here, maybe we need a funny picture of a cantankerous cat